Response of Five Food Legume Crops to an Irrigation Gradient Imposed During Reproductive Growth

Abstract

Food legumes, an excellent source of protein and soil fertility improvement, offer small farmers a means of intensifying cropping on rice lands in semiarid and tropical regions. Unfortunately food legume productivity is often limited by variation in the amount and distribution of rainfall. The study was conducted to compare differential responses of mungbean (Vigna radiata L.), soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.], peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.), and pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L.) to a soil water gradient imposed during the reproductive growth phase. Field studies were conducted on Lipa clay loam, an isohyperthemic Typic Hapludoll silt loam soil, using a line source sprinkler irrigation system at the International Rice Research Institute, Philippines, from January to May during 1985 and 1986. Among the five species, peanut yielded significantly higher across the irrigation regimes in both years. Lack of water in the driest regime (50% water deficit replacement) reduced the seed yield of mungbean, soybean, cowpea, and peanut by an average of 43, 39,34, and 32%, respectively. However, pigeonpea seed yield increased by an average of 31% in the driest regime. Seed yield increases per mm of total irrigation water plus rainfall were 3.46 and 5.61 kg ha−1 in soybean, and 3.55 to 5.67 kg ha−1 in peanut in 1985 and 1986, respectively. However, pigeonpea yield per mm of total irrigation water plus rainfall declined 1.53 and 1.27 kg ha−1 in 1985 and 1986, respectively. Peanut performed best in irrigated as well as in rainfed environments, followed by cowpea, soybean, and mungbean. Pigeonpea was suitable only for the relatively dry, rainfed environment. Results indicate the need to match the suitable food legumes to maximize the rice land use.

Capabilities of Four Novel Warm‐Season Legumes in the Southern Great Plains: Grain Production and Quality

“…A similar lack of stability in guar yields was noted over an eight-year period at 16 locations throughout Oklahoma and Texas, with a large portion of the variability attributed to environment (Staff ord, 1982). Pod numbers and seeds per plant were also important to grain production by mung bean, cowpea, soybean, and pigeon pea, and were aff ected by availability of water (Senthong and Pandey, 1989). Pod numbers and seeds per plant were also important to grain production by mung bean, cowpea, soybean, and pigeon pea, and were aff ected by availability of water (Senthong and Pandey, 1989).…”

“…The costs of such products are volatile and currently increasing. Some were incorporated into cropping systems in regions of the tropics and subtropics to diversify agricultural production (Pandy et al, 1983;Senthong and Pandey, 1989;Mandal et al, 1990). There are many subtropical and tropical grain legumes that could be used as feedstock in the SGP.…”

Forage yield performance and nutritive value of selected wild soybean ecotypes

“…Effects of precipitation and temperature on yields of forage crops have also been reported in other studies. McGuire et al (1998) reported that excess precipitation and cooler temperatures reduced yields of winter legumes; Senthong and Pandey (1989) …”

Managing native and legume-fixed nitrogen in lowland rice-based cropping systems

“…Establishing a post-rice legume crop prior to or immediately after the rice harvest is crucial in maximizing the use of the entire residual soil water reservoir. Water deficits are likely during the late growth stages of a post-rice legume because of a receding water table (Senthong and Pandey, 1989;Timsina, 1989).…”

“…Peanut is reported to withstand relatively larger soil water deficits than most grain legumes because of a higher root density in the lower soil depths (De Vries et al, 1989a;Senthong and Pandey, 1989).…”